


A Leaf Falls

by Tobiroth



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mission Fic, Sickness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 19:47:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14900847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tobiroth/pseuds/Tobiroth
Summary: After an urgent SOS, Cloud is assigned to replace a fellow Infantryman at one of ShinRa's many secret safe houses hidden in the wilderness.  It's a two month long mission, mostly sitting and waiting for a comrade in trouble to come by, and every day of it is expected to be boring and lonely.  Twenty-seven days in the most famous SOLDIER of them all staggers inside and falls at Cloud's feet.





	A Leaf Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from "l(a" by E.E Cummings.

_Day 27_  
  
If this is what Cloud got for doing well, he was going to try his hardest to be as mediocre as possible for the rest of his time with ShinRa.

He'd been here almost an entire month at this point, and Cloud only knew so because he made himself write a letter to his mother every day. Twenty-seven of the things sat on the counter in the dismal little kitchen under a poster stuck to the wall instructing someone how to use the transponder near the entrance to send an SOS to the nearest ShinRa outpost.

A full month ago, three days before arriving here, his CO called him out of his hand-to-hand class.

* * *

_Day -3_

"Lieutenant," Cloud greeted once out in the hallway, saluting crisply. Lieutenant Okpara, a dark-skinned woman with a bright, lopsided smile from losing a portion of her cheek in a monster attack in childhood, grinned at him.

"Strife. Hey. Colonel Strauss wants to see you asap. I'm escorting you."

"Yes ma'am," Cloud said, but it came out sounding like  _um, okay_.

As they worked their way to the elevators to go to the right floor, Cloud pulling his scarf and pauldrons back on to look respectable in front of his Colonel, she assured him, "You're not in trouble or anything, don't worry about that."

That was a relief - Cloud felt he'd gotten in trouble enough here in Midgar to last him a couple years. It had been a… rough transition from life in Nibelheim. He'd been so angry all the time.

"Okay. Thanks," Cloud said, grateful, knowing that even saying that might have not been strictly allowed from his Lieutenant, and it was a risk to reassure him like that. She brought him to Strauss' office, pushed him gently inside with a hand on his lower back, and gave a two-fingered wave just before the motorized door shut behind her.

"Colonel!" Cloud barked, because this particular Commanding Officer was the type who liked to be barked at, and saluted for all he was worth. Strauss made him hold it for a good twenty seconds, eyeing him through his one good eye, the other scrunched shut and bisected with three deep, ugly scars. Despite his appearance and his penchant for bellowing, he was fairly nice, just no-nonsense.

As he told Cloud to be at ease and sit at the seat opposite his cramped desk, he ran a hand over his bald head.

"I'm going to make this quick," Strauss said, leaning back in his chair, "Because we need you to leave in the next two hours."

A mission?

Cloud sat up straighter. "Where to, Sir?"

The man didn't answer right away, choosing to go into this conversation as he wanted. "I'm aware that you were our top-scorer in the Infantry last semester in the Wilderness Survival class."

"Yessir." That had been surprising - he was fairly mediocre at most things thus far at ShinRa, but he'd done exceptionally well in the Survival course, coming out first of the fifty or so Infantry enrolled in it last winter. It being winter may have something to do with it; he was more than used to roughing it out in the cold, navigating frigid icy passes and trapping his food in such conditions. Better yet, Cloud was  _wary_  - he'd been slow and sneaky and careful, managing to avoid the SOLDIERs lurking around during their final exam, trying to track the Infantry and incapacitate them. Avoiding bullies in Nibelheim for years may have had something to do with that (until, of course, he'd stopped running, and gotten the shit beat out of him dozens of times but  _still_ , he'd had his pride).

Strauss fixed him a heavy look for a long moment. After he found whatever it was he was looking for, he said, "We have a safe house deep in the Mideel forest. Our current operative stationed there sent out an SOS this morning. It seems he's about to break."

Cloud looked at him curiously.

"From the isolation," Strauss said carefully. "We have a few dozen safe houses around the world, and perhaps half are manned twenty-four-seven by ShinRa personnel trained in first-aid so passing operatives can recuperate."

Cloud knew all this. His entire squad had stopped at one once after a trip in Cosmo Canyon had gone on too long and they'd run out of water. He'd slept on the floor of a dusty tunnel system but it had been out of the sun and he'd gotten a shower. They were nearly impossible to find if you didn't already know the location, which hopefully Infantry or SOLDIERs nearby would.

"How long has he been there?"

Strauss sighed. "Only three weeks. The usual appointments are for two months - too much longer threatens the mental health of those stationed there. We thought he was strong enough for two months of waiting, but apparently not. I want you to go replace him. You've showed an exceptional ability to survive in the forest. From what I understand -" Strauss glanced at him carefully - "You are already more solitary than most Infantry, and your immediate COs believe you can handle the two-month deployment."

He'd had hardly anybody but Tifa and his mom back home - the half-dozen friends he had here at ShinRa felt overwhelming at times, and he loved them all fiercely, especially Zack.  _That_ was a surprising friendship.

"I'm in the middle of first-aid training right now, Sir."

"I know - you not having completed the course isn't ideal, but we'll take what we can get. Go get your things - I recommend packing books, paper, things to keep you occupied during downtime. What's your skill with Materia?"

"Weak," Cloud admitted. "I can cast a small Fire and Cure minor wounds." He hadn't had much training with magic yet.

"Good enough. Pack, then report to the infirmary - one of the nurses will give you a crash-course for about forty-five minutes and give you study materials for the ride. Requisitions will give you any medical supplies that aren't currently at the safe house and your materia."

"One last thing, Sir."

"Yes?"

"Should I expect any activity? Are there any operations nearby?"

"...I don't know," Strauss sighed. "I believe there's some sort of SOLDIER thing going on in the area, but it's under wraps. I couldn't get Lazard Deusericus to tell me anything." Strauss frowned, and Cloud frowned too - it was well-known that SOLDIER made it more difficult than it needed to be for them to do their jobs sometimes. "Generally speaking though, it's rare to have someone stop in. Prepare for some solitude, Strife."

"Yessir," Cloud said gravely, sensing the concern in his CO's voice.

This kind of thing seemed so easy, so boring, but they both understood how taxing this kind of mission could be on the mind, if not the body. Dismissed, Cloud left with another salute and hurried back to his bunk.

In his duffels went civilian clothes (he'd been informed by message to his PHS that he did not need to be in uniform the whole two months by himself), his favorite knife and pistol, enough paper to write his mother an entire novel, a handheld game system with lots of batteries, and the like. Strauss had handed him a small map of the safe house with instructions to burn it after learning it. As he packed, Cloud peered at the small designation for the shower, kitchen area, and toilet (if it was anything like the last one, he'd have to carry a nasty bucket underneath full of waste to a hidden location outside where enemies wouldn't find it).

The nurse assigned to teach him as much as she could in forty-five minutes looked frazzled and had no patience for Cloud's initial revulsion as she dragged him over to a knocked-out SOLDIER who had just returned from a mission with a large gash on his side.

She showed him how to use a Cure to clear the wound of bacteria, if nothing else, and then stitch it closed with sterile thread and a needle. His gloved hands trembled at first but he managed it. They tended to the man's other wounds, and then she brought him to a large poison and antivenom kit against the wall, saying that 'where he was headed' he'd have something very similar to work with.

When he left, his nose stinging with the smell of antiseptic and his stomach roiling from the sight of another person's actual fucking stomach sliding out of their body, he put some speed into his legs and raced to the elevator. There was somewhere he had to be real quick before he went to Requisitions.

It took some mental gymnastics but Cloud quickly decided to go to the SOLDIER Floor instead of the one where his best friend lived. It turned out to be a good guess. Zack was with his mentor, Angeal Hewley, in the VR room. The two men were sparring, looking strange standing there in the middle of the room, twitching and occasionally swinging their swords, but Cloud had no doubt they were engaged in a terrific battle inside their heads.

He pounded on the door, wincing, knowing he didn't have the clearance to do so, and nor was it very polite.

Angeal got his visor off first, and he frowned at Cloud. The blond winced and ducked his head apologetically through the door, stepping back as Zack came to the door after carefully putting his VR headset down.

"Spike," he greeted, looking concerned. Cloud was not the type to interrupt his training or barge into anything anywhere, really. "What's up?"

Cloud didn't answer, feeling a strange rush of desperate affection for his friend. He raised his arms and wound them around Zack's neck, clutching to the guy.

A lot of the time, Zack was the one who kept Cloud together out here. Cloud breathed his friend's scent in deep, squeezing him to feel the shape of his body against his. He'd have to remember this moment if he started coming apart in the next two months.

"Got a mission," Cloud answered once Zack's arms came around him, holding his middle. Zack straightened up and Cloud's feet left the floor - asshole. "I don't think I can say what it is. Two months. I just wanted to - say goodbye."

 _In case I don't make it back_ went unsaid.

Zack whistled, lowering Cloud back onto his feet, but gripping even harder now, burying his face in Cloud's soft hair. "Can you tell me if it's dangerous, Spike?" he muttered, quietly enough so Angeal wouldn't hear.

"I don't think so," Cloud whispered. "Mostly a lot of… ah, waiting around."

That was as much of a clue as he could give. Strauss had told him, before he left, the importance of keeping who was on rotation at the safe houses a secret, so it didn't reach enemy ears.

Zack was smart enough to get it, and he nodded, probably having a very good idea of what Cloud had to do. "You got books and stuff?"

"Yup."

"Your porn magazines?"

" _Zack,_ " Cloud growled, struggling out of Zack's hug and giving him a mighty shove.

Zack laughed, letting himself be pushed.. "Here," he said, and from the bracer around his wrist popped out a green materia - a Cure. "Take this, Cloud, okay?"

Angeal was giving them their space, but Cloud caught the concerned look Angeal was sending Zack. Cloud reached out to accept, and as the sphere settled into his hand he realized that no, it wasn't a Cure, but a mastered Curaga. This thing was worth fifty times its weight in Gil, and he opened his mouth to refuse it, but Zack shook his head. "Please take it," he said. Lowering his voice again, he whispered, "You don't know if you're gonna need it, or some poor sonuvabitch who staggers inside in the middle of the night half-dead is gonna need it. It's your job to keep you  _and_ them alive and sane, okay?"

Cloud swallowed. "Okay."

"Okay," Zack said again, standing up straight. To Angeal, he finally said, "Cloud's got a mission. Mind if I walk him to the elevator, 'Geal?"

"No," he answered. His dark blue gaze fell to Cloud, heavy and assessing. Cloud shifted in place. He'd never understood how Zack could be so cool next to Angeal, because Cloud's mild crush on the man was fairly debilitating. "Please be careful, Cloud."

"I will. Sorry for interrupting."

Angeal waved him away with a smile. "Don't worry about it."

Zack wrapped an arm around his shoulders and half-pulled him towards the elevator. "Your PHS probably won't work, but I'll keep an extra eye on the transponders. If shit goes south, don't be afraid to ask for me specifically, okay?"

"Right."

Zack jabbed the button for the elevator, and when it came, he gently pushed Cloud inside. "See you in two months," he said, smiling kindly, a kindness Cloud hadn't known in Nibelheim from anyone but his mother.

"See you," Cloud said, and after the doors shut, rested his forehead against the metal, eyes closed, feeling sad already as the elevator descended.

The noise of the helicopter was enough to discourage conversation, and Reno's attitude even more so. He'd been mostly silent as Cloud boarded, flashing him the occasional glance out of his eyes, bright green and suspicious.

Ten hours after being in flight, Cloud's head ached from the pressure of the noise-cancelling headphones and his back was sore. The only good thing was that his motion sickness medication made him drowsy, so he'd slept most of these ten hours. Reno, up in front, seemed like he could sit in a cockpit and pilot a helicopter endlessly until the world ended, so Cloud didn't worry about him too much.

After another couple hours, though, they descended (Cloud's heart in his fucking throat) and landed in a grassy field a half hour's walk from a small ShinRa-friendly town. "Go order a room for two," Reno instructed, stretching (he had not offered to carry any of Cloud's bags) and Cloud nodded. He couldn't find Reno when he had the keys in hand and, shrugging, just went up to the room. As he hobbled inside, encumbered by his bags, a pale hand shot into the doorway just as he was about to pull it shut and Reno smoothly stepped inside.

It was small, with two beds and the barest of necessities. It was a small town's inn though, and was to be expected.

"What are you doing?" Cloud asked tiredly, watching Reno crawl around on the floor, feeling under furniture and along the seams of the bedsheets. The redhead didn't answer and Cloud shrugged again, dropping his shit on one of the beds and going into the bathroom.

Reno barged into the bathroom while Cloud was on the toilet, not giving him even a glance as Cloud jerked, covering his lap and scowling. You didn't just interrupt a man's shit like that!

After peering at the showerhead and around at various fixtures, Reno finally spoke. "I was checking for listening equipment or cameras, duh. Got the exits and fire escapes for the building too," and walked back out.

Oh.

Cloud finished his business, privately kind of irritated at how efficient Turks were. He'd probably come across as an uneducated fool. Later that night, as they settled in bed, he asked, "How come a Turk is bringing me there?"

"We try not to broadcast the locations of the safe houses to people who don't need to know," Reno answered. "How many do you know about, huh?"

Cloud thought. Just the one, the one his CO had brought them to in Cosmo Canyon.

"That's what I thought," Reno answered. He'd been doing that all night - taking answers from Cloud's face and body language and responding to that instead of waiting for Cloud to say anything. It was irritating.

"Plus," Reno added, removing the holder for his long ponytail and running his fingers through his long hair (he looked strange out of a suit), "I've got training to withstand torture and shit, yo. No one's gonna get the locations out of me, so I'm allowed to know them all. I do wish I didn't have to shuttle around kids, though."

"I'm eighteen." Cloud glared at the ceiling. Several years old enough to join the military, two years old enough to fuck whoever he wanted to fuck, even old enough to vote in Nibelheim and Midgar, if not Junon and a few other cities.

" _Kiiiids_ ," Reno drawled, probably just to get a rise out of him. The dude had to be like, the same age as Zack, just a couple years older than Cloud.

Reno annoyed him all morning, only to fall steely and silent just before the second leg of their trip and all day in the chopper again. The second night was at a slightly better inn, and Reno had disappeared for a while after they witnessed a couple have a very public fight by the outdoor hot tubs. He'd had Cloud in stitches that night, both of them cross-legged on their beds with Reno giving him all the gossip on the couple he'd managed to overhear that evening in his boredom. Apparently their story involved a cheating sibling, three endangered cubs they stole from a zoo somewhere, a cult leader, and someone's grandma.

On the third day, Reno got them as close as he dared to the hideout, hovering over the treetops, which were buffeted horribly by the helicopter's wind. Choppers attracted a lot of attention, after all.

"THANKS!" Cloud screamed, readying his equipment for a safe landing in the trees. He had his compass and such to find the safe house. Reno was his second-to-last human interaction for a while, most likely, after all, and he appreciated it, even if the guy was kinda weird.

Reno stuck out a fist back from the cockpit, winking, and Cloud fist-bumped him. Cloud removed the headgear and clamped a hand over his right ear. He fell out of the chopper.

With only a second or two to deploy his landing gear, Cloud waited until he was far enough away from the chopper before pulling the cord on his pack that sent out a small parachute behind him. It didn't slow his descent all that much, there wasn't time to, but it did what it was designed to do, which was to get tangled in the treetops and bring Cloud to a horrible, jerking stop, suspended halfway to the forest floor.

Cloud let out the cord, allowing himself to lower to the ground, maneuvering his way past branches and foliage. It was hot and sticky, Mideel being warmer than arid Midgar, and when Cloud touched down he did so in a couple inches of swampy mud.

Next was the cool part - he pressed a button on his parachute and the whole thing retracted, detangling itself from the canopy above and coming back to him. It was useless to him now, he couldn't do that again, but at least now he could hide it and not have a giant thing in the treetops that screamed  _Someone Is Here Who Shouldn't Be!_

Cloud dug a hole and stuffed the parachute in it, letting it be covered in slimy muck, and continued on his way.

The hike to the safe house took almost two hours, but for a dude who'd been cramped in a helicopter with a flirty redhead for company for a few days, it felt nice. The fresh air in his lungs and the familiar burn of his thighs cleared Cloud's head.

It was hard to find, and it was purposeful that way. The safe houses were supposed to be impossible for enemies to just happen across - you had to go looking for them.

Mideel had all kinds of cave systems, some of which had water running through them. Spelunkers had a hell of a time out here and found all kinds of stuff. This hideout was behind a waterfall, which may have been obvious except the cliff the water poured over was solid rock - or at least it was supposed to seem that way.

Drenched from dragging all his bags through the crash of the waterfall, Cloud nearly missed the tiny keypad near the ground, hidden behind boulders and foliage. He put the code in that had been on his mission report he'd also had to burn and waited, breath held.

A panel of rock slid open, just wide enough for a human to slip through.

Immediately Cloud held up his hands, knowing his figure would be illuminated from behind in the darkness he could see ahead. He waited, eyes adjusting, his senses reaching out for danger.

The person inside came rushing out.

Cloud sidestepped, reaching for his baton, but stopped when he realized the man inside was  _crying_  and crashed into him with a hug and not with intent to kill.

Bags dropping to the ground, Cloud held the man who had his face pressed to Cloud's neck and back shook in deep, heaving sobs.

Cloud's neck was wet, and it wasn't just from the waterfall.

"Come on," Cloud said, awkward but trying so hard to comfort the guy. "C'mon in, we can't be out here."

Gulping in irregular whistles of breath, the Infantryman nodded at Cloud, grabbed two of his bags, and dragged them inside. With the door shut behind them, Cloud felt along blindly, his eyes still not adjusted. The other Infantryman grabbed his hand and led him inside. It smelled strongly of damp wood and cold rock. Cloud was pushed to sit, and he perched on the edge of a cot, only to have the other man sit next to him, their thighs touching. Then an arm was around him again, and Cloud was tugged back against the man's chest, an unfamiliar face in his spikes again, the grip tight but not sexual. The other man clung to him like an octopus, getting as much body contact from Cloud as he could.

"I'm sorry," the man wheezed, his body still wracked by sobs, clutching at Cloud. "I just need a minute, I just-"

"It's okay," Cloud soothed. He lay still, letting the man hold him, getting much more, it was clear, out of the embrace than Cloud was. After a moment he tried to return the hug as best as he could, tucking his head against the other's shoulder, wrapping a leg over his hip, and stroking his arms with his hands. There was an intimacy to taking care of your comrades, especially like this.

Gradually the shaking stopped, and the Infantryman wiped his eyes furiously.

"Bilal," he introduced, holding out a hand for a formal handshake, which was weird, because they were still cuddled together on the small cot, "Panwar. Ensign."

"Cloud Strife. Cadet."

"Th-Thanks for coming, Cloud," Bilal sniffed, starting another round of quiet crying.

_That bad?_

"You've had a rough time," Cloud murmured.

"Yeah. I-" Bilal laughed without humor, wet and strained. "I thought I was cut out for this kind of thing, but I guess not. Three weeks, man, that's all I managed before I started - hearing stuff. I felt like I'd do anything to see another person, even run out there into our enemies."

"It's alright. We got your SOS, I'm here to replace you. Transport is waiting for you, I have the coordinates."

"Ugh," Bilal said. "Never thought I'd be happy to see the Tower again, that ugly hunk of metal."

Chuckling, Cloud agreed with him.

The man needed another couple minutes of contact, but eventually he stood up and showed Cloud the ins and outs of the little dwelling. Years ago ShinRa had blown out this hole in the rock behind the waterfall and repurposed it a bit and outfitted it into a spectacularly shitty little home of sorts, with wooden boards on the ceiling and walls and tile underfoot, easy to mop blood and bile off of. Some were warped with damp and rot.

There were three small cots, and overall it seemed the same size as one of the small studio apartments the upper-level Infantry got to stay in once they proved themselves to the company for long enough (and from what Cloud heard, they were still smaller than the apartments SOLDIER Thirds got, because of course they were). Everything seemed true to the diagram he'd read.

The only light came during the day, Bilal explained; there was very little electricity, there being a generator that ran on mako power that he was only to use in  _extreme emergencies._ It was the darkness that had fucked him up the most, he said, shuddering. One bare bulb illuminated the room during the day and flicked out at the same time every night.

There was water, though (thank goodness, waste from the toilet went straight to the river outside, which was gross, and so very ShinRa, but he wouldn't have to trek outside with it), a stove that ran on gas and a sink, under which were pots and pans.

There were enough rations to feed all of SOLDIER for a good week, it looked like.

The radio hung from a hook on the wall, and beside it, large and intimidating, was a large red button with a cover. Self-Destruct. That was for if the hideout was discovered… and escape impossible.

"I miss my girlfriend," Bilal sighed after showing him everything he'd need. "And McMoogles, oh,  _planet_."

"Here's the coordinates." Cloud wrote them down, ensured that his superior could use his compass and GPS correctly to get to where Reno had landed and was waiting at the edge of the forest for him. "Get going before it gets dark, okay?"

"Yeah. I'm leaving you my books and stuff, Strife. You'll need it." He turned to look at Cloud. His facial hair was scruffy and looked uncared for. "Seriously. Don't start zoning out and thinking you'll be okay. Stay active - it's when you slow down that you start… going downhill." He swallowed, casting a worried glance around the inside of the tiny dwelling.

Five minutes later he disappeared behind the door, it sealing shut securely behind him. Then Cloud was alone.

And he'd stay alone for two whole months.

"All right," Cloud said loudly to the room, not wanting the silence to creep in, like it had for Bilal, "Let's get unpacked, then, I guess?"

* * *

_Day 3_

Cloud rearranged his meager belongings almost every day, trying to keep the look of the place fresh. He wrote his daily letter his mother, though, in the same place, on the floor directly under the bulb where he got the most light. He ran out of things to talk about on the second day, so he made something up for the third, inventing an outlandish story about saving the day alongside his best friend Zack. It wasn't like he was going to actually send this.

He imagined what she would say to him if he was really a big hero like that, and it made him smile.

* * *

_Day 7_

He'd previously been stuck on a level in a game Zack let him borrow, but he'd gone through nearly half his batteries already and through sheer stubbornness finally beat the level, and was now almost done the game. Zack would be flabbergasted. He could picture Zack's face, his jaw dropping, snatching the system out of Cloud's hand and bellowing, "You  _definitely_ cheated, Spike!"

He wished he had Zack here; he'd cheer this dark, sad place up quite a bit.

* * *

_Day 11_

Cloud slept on a different cot every night just because he could, though he had a favorite. He was on that one this time, one hand gripping his cock and on the other four whole fingers sunk deep into his ass because he had nothing but time to leisurely open himself up until he was relaxed and loose and  _fuck himself_ , hard, until his toes curled and his back arched and then he'd just -

_Stop._

Cloud panted raggedly, bringing his hands to his hair, amazed he'd been able to stop just before he came for the third time. "O-Oh, fuck," he breathed into the room, the muscles of his legs trembling.

This time he'd invented a ridiculous fantasy where Genesis Rhapsodos had fucked him until Cloud came, then  _kept_ fucking him, still hard, until Cloud got it up all over again, and when he'd let go, filling Cloud's ass with his cum, Angeal had taken over, pounding Cloud's ass until Cloud was mindless with need, shaking and begging for Angeal to let go, to unload inside him, to keep fucking until dribbles of come sloshed out and dribbled down to Cloud's balls, heavy and hanging between his legs.

And when he did, then, then was the best part - Sephiroth was there, slipping his fingers and tongue into Cloud's slick and fucked-loose hole, all red from the hard cocks he'd been taking and wet from the semen from two men. Cloud came that time, seeing nothing, squeezing his legs shut around Sephiroth's head as his fingers pumped into his hole and come fucking erupted from his cock, splattering his bare chest and even his chin, and wow, he didn't even know he could shoot that far, and -

\- He woke up dazed and sticky, the lightbulb off, indicating it was past ten p.m. sometime, and more than ever aware that he was alone.

* * *

_Day 18_

Cloud was always careful when he left the safe house. Strauss told him that it was acceptable to go out and trap some food, provided he was smart about it and covered his tracks. Cloud had no problem with this. He searched high and low, farther and farther out with each trip, and found no evidence of anyone having been in the area for quite some time. There were a couple faded tracks that he was sure were Bilal's, as they headed towards the coordinates Cloud had given him.

He caught a couple rabbits and made stew a few times with water and the careful application of a few different ration packs. Mideel forest was full of fruits and berries, and he climbed high in the trees to pluck fruit that wouldn't be noticed from anyone on the ground.

He wrote to his mom about the meager meals and told her how much he missed her cooking.

* * *

_Day 23_

He'd officially lasted longer than Bilal had, and while Cloud was… lonely, cripplingly lonely, he felt okay. He noticed he talked to himself all day long, narrating what he was doing (to who, he didn't know) but he wasn't… seeing things or hearing things or any of that. Cloud knew he didn't have the best psych report - it was why he'd failed getting into SOLDIER the first time. But he was okay.

Once a week he tapped a quick  _OK_  home in morse code on the transponder like he was supposed to.

He hoped Zack got those messages and that they gave him some peace of mind. Cloud was already planning exactly what he was going to do when he got back to Midgar, which was mostly buying a ton of junk food and inviting himself over to Zack's for a sleepover of massive proportions. He'd blush horribly if Angeal stopped by, no doubt, his fantasies over the past three weeks taking on strange turns in his isolation, but he'd get over it. He'd even once gotten off to thoughts of  _Zack,_ which made him feel so much awkward shame after coming that he'd written a letter to Zack about it, apologizing furiously for thinking about his best friend - his best friend with a girlfriend - in such a nasty way, and then burnt the letter up on the stove. (Foolish, actually, because the room had filled with smoke, and he'd gagged and had to hold the door open for a few minutes while it dissipated).

* * *

_Day 24_

On a trip to check his traps and grab a bit more fruit, he saw a deep gash in a tree that hadn't been there a few days earlier. It looked… as if it was from a sword.

He hid in the tree canopy for hours, waiting and watching, but he sensed no movement. Looking out over the forest though, he saw smoke, just a few wisps of it, curling over the treetops a mile or so east. A fire spell? A natural fire?

He crept back to the safe house, writing down what he saw on the papers he'd designated for official mission report things and not ramblings to his mother, and slept uneasily.

* * *

_Day 27_

If this is what Cloud got for doing well, he was going to try his hardest to be as mediocre as possible for the rest of his time with ShinRa.

He'd spent most of the day imagining all the ways he was going to sabotage his own success when he got back to ShinRa, ensuring that he never got top of his class on anything again. Second place would be okay. Would they send the second place Survival person to one of these safe houses? Perhaps… maybe fifth place, to be safe?

He used up the last set of batteries, obliterating Zack's high score, and as the thing died for the last time he sighed, packing it away in his bag. He'd underestimated just how many hours someone could spend playing video games in the darkness in two months.

He dreamed about Zack and Aerith, Zack's girlfriend, about going to a market with them, tables stretching out in every direction forever, and every time he picked something up from a table Aerith would encourage him to buy it and Zack would swish his mouth to the side and say, "Hmmm, nah, you should save your Gil, Spike." It was irritating after the tenth time it happened.

He picked up a small rectangular thing, and after inspection it looked like a model of the door to the safe house, the one Cloud stared at all the time. It beeped loudly at him, lights flashing in the market in alarm, and he watched as the door started sliding open on his palm.

In an instant Cloud rolled off his cot and was crouched on the floor against the far wall, his rifle in his hand and pointed at the door, which slid open. Adrenaline surged through him, waking him up fully. The bare bulb flashed again as it always did when the door opened.

The figure in the doorway staggered inside and smacked at the keypad on this side so the door would shut behind them.

Behind  _him_ \- this particular figure could only belong to one person on this planet.

Eyes, bright and so very clearly out of it, snapped to Cloud when Cloud threw his rifle away from his body, wanting to be  _very_ clear he was no threat.

Hands up, immediately, Cloud spoke, "Cloud Strife, Infantryman, here to help, Sephiroth, Sir!"

Sephiroth swayed on the spot. Masamune, fucking  _Masamune,_ fell from his hand and clattered to the ground. His hair was as silky and beautiful as ever, even in front of his face, obscuring half of it, and tangled behind him. His uniform looked okay but  _he_ was not. He stared at Cloud, falling back against the door, his clothes dripping water onto the floor.

"At ease," Sephiroth grunted, startling Cloud out of the salute he'd struck, and then proceeded to pass out, hitting the ground with a tremendous crash of flesh and metal armor.


End file.
